Hot Start Leads to Dumpster Fire Finish for Washington Football Team

Dwayne Haskins poor performance, three interceptions, leads to 21 Cleveland Browns points and a loss for the WFT

In what was the most promising start of the 2020 season for the Washington Football Team,  the ending was a complete mess. 

Washington was able to get on the board for the first time in the first quarter this season on a Dontrelle Inman touchdown reception. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins started the game (6/9) for 71 yards and a touchdown. And then it went all down hill from there.

Dwayne Haskins came into Week 3 without throwing an interception only to throw three that led directly to 21 points. Additionally, left tackle Geron Christian, Sr. let Myles Garrett speed right by his outside and had a strip sack on Haskins that led to a field goal late in the game. Something we continue to see Christian Sr. do week after week.

When asked during his postgame press conference of what Ron said to his starting quarterback, Haskins said Rivera told him "I'm behind you and I'm sticking with you."

The Cleveland Browns were also able to score 17 unanswered points in the second quarter which saw Washington trailing at the half for the third straight week.

Halftime Bummer: Washington Loses Lead & Chase Young Along with Matt Ioannidis

The defense did all they could to chase quarterback Baker Mayfield around and keep Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb in the backfield. But, it was all for nothing. Cleveland being able to start with the ball in Washington territory on multiple drives only gives the defense so much room for error.

Chubb and Hunt combined for 154 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 35 carries.

Head Coach Ron Rivera for the second game in a row decided not to use his timeouts to stop the clock when Washington had the ability to make a comeback. Last week, he said it was to curb any potential injuries that they could incur. This week? 

Rivera doubled down about the Washington Football Team being young and said "I did what I did...I'm working on developing my football team." 

If you were to give out a game ball today, on the defensive side, it should go to defensive end Montez Sweat. With the rotation being put out of whack due to injuries to Chase Young and Matt Ioannidis, Sweat stepped up and created as much havoc as possible in the Browns backfield.

Jon Bostic also continued to be a disruptor in the middle of the field coming in on blitzes and making sure receivers didn't have the ability to reel in important 3rd down conversations when in what looked to be man to man coverage.

We started to see more of what Isaiah Wright and Antonio Gandy-Golden could do on offense. Gandy-Golden was used on an end around that went for 22 yards rushing and threw some key blocks on screens to Terry McLaurin. Wright was also used in the rushing game once for 6 yards, but was also targeted 6 times in his first game active in his young career.

Running back Antonio Gibson also found the end zone for the second time in as many games.

Washington will need to take a long look in the mirror after falling to 1-2. A high octane Baltimore team looking to run them right over on Sunday at FedEx Field.

INJURY REPORT: Defensive end Chase Young left the game with a groin injury and defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis left the game with an arm injury. Both were reported very quickly of them heading into the locker room. No update from Rivera during his postgame press conference.

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Alan Lepore joins "Washington Football" on SI.com, while still doing outstanding work as an editor/writer at FullPressCoverage.com or @FPC_Redskins. You can follow him on Twitter @AlanLepore or on instagram @leporealan. Alan is a Villanova University MPA Nonprofit Management candidate and is a fundraising/development professional.